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CIVILEQUIP BUYING GUIDE

Who is actually quoting? Checking a Chinese supplier's legal identity

Use the 18-character unified social credit code, the registered name and the registered address to match a quotation, a website and a factory to one company.

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One code for one legal entity

Since the State Council's 2015 reform, every company registered in mainland China carries an 18-character unified social credit code (统一社会信用代码). It replaced the separate registration, organisation-code and tax numbers with one identifier. The coding rule is national standard GB 32100-2015: the code combines a registration-authority code, an entity-type code, a six-digit administrative-area code, a nine-character entity identifier and a check character.

For a buyer, the code is the anchor. Put it, with the full Chinese registered name, on the quotation, the proforma invoice and the contract, and check it against the national enterprise credit information system. On this site, the Hengda Furnaces profile shows the simple case: the credit code in the website footer matches the registration record.

When the website name and the registered name differ

Many factories trade under an English brand that is not a translation of their legal name. That is normal, but it has to be resolved before payment. The OLAI / JINYAO page explains why a shared domain still leaves you to confirm which company sells and which makes the machine. Ningbo ACE Machinery is another trading name for a differently named company, and Unimotics carries a former company name in its registration history.

Sales and manufacturing can also sit in different companies. Hanqi and FTB split a Ningbo factory from a Guangzhou sales centre; JW Casting involves related company names; Future Machinery is reached through an export website; and Junsheng presents group facilities. In each case, ask which entity signs the contract, which one makes the item, and which one issues the export documents.

Dates and documents that do not line up

A website history and a registration date often disagree. Xuansheng describes a 2010 start while the current entity was incorporated in 2021; Yuhe shows certificates older than its 2019 incorporation. Neither is proof of a problem, but older documents may belong to a predecessor, and their scope cannot be assumed to carry over. The same caution applies to a displayed business licence image, which the LSWR profile treats as supporting a name, with limits.

Registered business scope is another check. Jingcheng describes manufacturing on its website while its registered scope lists equipment sales and software, so the profile asks for the actual manufacturing site. Yuntian has an older registered entity whose link to the current company you should ask about, and PHPFLUID needs its manufacturing responsibility confirmed separately from its trading role.

Addresses: registered, office and workshop

The registered address, the sales office and the workshop can be three places. Yingda lists No. 61 on its website and No. 63 in registration; Miaoliang shows an office address that is not obviously the production site. Before a visit or an inspection booking, ask for the workshop address in writing and check that it belongs to the contracting company or to a named subcontractor.

None of these checks replaces a factory audit. They make sure that the company you audit, the company you pay and the company that ships are the same one, or that the differences are written down. What to request from that company next is covered in first samples, lot checks and material records.

Sources

  1. 国务院关于批转发展改革委等部门法人和其他组织统一社会信用代码制度建设总体方案的通知（国发〔2015〕33号）
    State Council plan introducing the unified social credit code and describing the codes it replaced.
  2. GB 32100-2015 法人和其他组织统一社会信用代码编码规则
    National coding rule for the 18-character unified social credit code; in force, with Amendment No. 1.

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